Pop's Deli — Restaurant in Memphis

I've worked down the street on Shelby Dr. for many years and in an area that has very few good non-chain restaurants, Pop's has been such a blessing to have around. For years I knew I could trust that I would get a great meal and fantastic service at a fair price. I rate them three stars because I still have great memories of the "old" Pop's and their food is still great, when they get your order right. Earlier in the year ownership of Pop's changed and I tried to hang with them as they went through the bumps and bruises of getting things settled out. The setup of the counter and menu screens is much better, but that's about where the improvement ends. They took a couple of items off the menu that I loved, the Chilean being one of them. They have also put into service a new phone system that only seems to work about half the time. The biggest change has been the staffing. Since the change of ownership it seems like I never see the same faces twice and most of the employees there now don't really seem to care about their jobs. I've been hung up on several times or they will answer the phone and just set it down without saying anything. My order is wrong about half the time and they can't seem to figure out how to make fries now. They are consistently over or undercooked. The wait times can get ridiculous now as well. I hate to say it, but this restaurant has turned into a shell of it's former self and I will no longer be visiting them. I hope for their sake that they figure out how to be great again and take pride in what used to be an awesome restaurant, but I've been let down too many times this year to...

So I’ve been customer for many years. With that being said I’ve always ordered during lunch hours and always ordered the chicken philly. Well, tonight I decided to try the philly steak. BIG MISTAKE! Not only was the staff extremely irritated and frustrated with taking orders the steak had absolutely no seasoning at all.. oh and let’s not forget I paid $30 for 2 philly steaks and fries. Honestly if the food was good I wouldn’t mind the price but $30 on bland food is not ok. Dealing with the staff huffing and puffing every time someone walks in or the phone rings made me want to just get a refund and leave the tension in the restaurant was awful and uncomfortable having the staff glare at you when you walk in as if you shouldn’t be there...one employee interrupted my order to tell her coworker to stop taking orders at 8:40. I was there a whole hour before they closed. The cook stopped cooking just to come and cut the open sign off and it wasn’t even 8:30 yet and they close at 9pm I wouldn’t tell you not to eat here but I would suggest only eating there for lunch and stick with the chicken philly.. friendlier staff and way...

The Chilean sandwich may be the best sandwich in Memphis, no joke.

I was in the area for a training class and wanted to give some outside-of-the-loop restaurants a shot for lunch, to see what all the poor schlubs who work out there have to deal with on a daily basis. The other two places I ate at were decent, but Pop's, my god, Pop's, I'd eat here every day if I could.

It's a counter service place with about 8 or so 4 tops and about 6 stools at a little makeshift bar. You order your food, get your drink, and try to grab an empty table or make some friends.

We waited about 10 minutes for our food, and the place was packed. They call the order out and you walk up and get it. I had the Chilean and the house-made chips (American, not British). They were crispy with a spicy salt on them and all around awesome.

The Chilean looked small, I was a little worried, but when I picked half of it up, it weighed about a pound. It's a ciabatta roll with cooked-down green pepper and it has some kind of sauce on it and I really didn't take good mental notes because I was in an orgasmic state of delight. It's really that...